President James Buchanan Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

BUCHANAN (1791-1868) was a U.S. Representative (1821-31) and Senator (1834-1845), U.S. Minister to Russia (1832-1833) and Britain (1853-1856). He was Secretary of State under President Polk (1845-1849). He served one term as President (1857-1861), proving powerless to heal the growing sectional split over slavery or to prevent the secession of southern states after Lincoln's election. Wheatlands was Buchanan's estate in his native Pennsylvania. This brief letter merits further research. Buchanan held no public office in 1850, but continued to take an active hand in the affairs of his Democratic Party nationally and in his home state of Pennsylvania. The bundle of Congressional legislation known collectively as the Compromise of 1850 (passed in September of that year), but caused splits in the major parties and in nearly all states.